Baked Sweet Potato Fries

 

Friday is upon us. 

The end of the week tends to bring all kinds of warm feelings loaded with tasty anticipation. It's a much needed break from work, for some. Fridays have always been such a release for me. When I was in high school, the weekend was what I lived for during those endless weeks of rehearsals, class, homework, and boys. (for reals.) Either Friday or Saturday consisted of wonderful friends, and some crazy memories.

So I've always thought of weekends as the time to "get out and go out." After I got married, I had to reprogram that type of thinking. Going out to the latest movie or visiting a nice restaurant can sure add up quickly in the finance department. As newlyweds, we learned to save those types of dates for something special. As law school progressed a few years later, we stayed with the same type of practice. However, I grew pretty antsy, and felt like we still needed to have an official "date" with each other every weekend. And thus, mini dates were born. Ryan came up with this idea, and I've really loved it. We take turns every weekend on who chooses what we do (activity/food/etc) - and it has to be under $5 total. So you can imagine we had to get creative pretty quickly. It's been a lot of fun, and has allowed me to "feed my weekend beast" without breaking the bank. 

One of our favorite mini dates has been to walk to Gurus and grab some sweet potato fries (they are amazing, my friends). So when I told Ryan I was making some sweet potato fries, he went nuts. I think he thought I was making my usual homemade fry-em-up fries (here). This time, however, I put the frying oil away, and preheated the oven. 

These baked sweet potato fries were incredible. They tasted so creamy and warm on the inside, but has just enough crunch and seasoning on the outside for that perfect balance. Oh, and if you don't have a mandolin, you're all good. Just use a sharp knife, and a lot of patience. The beauty of these baked fries is that you can add/change the seasonings to adjust to your palate (and completely change the flavor altogether if you prefer - cinnamon/sugar/nutmeg? Heck, I'm in.) Sweet potatoes are so amazing that way - and I hear they're super-healthy for you. 

Psh. Whatever. 

Like I said, it's Friday. Eat whatever the heck you want, people. 

....but make sure these are on your plate, mmkay?

 

Baked Sweet Potato Fries 

Ingredients:

2 large sweet potatoes, washed (don't peel them)

drizzle EVOO

1 T rosemary

1 T thyme

3 cloves fresh garlic, grated (small holes, people)

1 t sea salt

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Place a cooking rack on a baking sheet (you will need about 1 set up per large potato). 

2. Slice potatoes using a mandolin - slice them between 1/4 and 1/8 inch thick. 

3. In two separate batches, toss potatoes with a drizzle of EVOO (add more if you feel like they need more coating. They don't need to be drenched). Sprinkle with all seasonings. 

4. Place the potato slices, in a single layer on the cooling rack. Bake 20-30 minutes - depending on how crispy you want the fries (at about 15 minutes, I flipped mine over). 

5. Sprinkle with more sea salt if desired. Ryan ate them with frysauce (mixture of ketchup and mayo - it's a Utah thing...). 

Recipe Source: Savoring the Thyme